The Next Right Thing
by Funshine1028
Summary: You are lost, hope is gone. But you must go on, and do the next right thing. Rey mourns the loss of Ben, while trying to piece together some semblance of a future for herself. Now that Luke and Leia are gone, there is no one left to teach her the ways of the Force. Learning, as well as coping, is taken one step at a time.
1. Rise

_I'd never felt so alone…._

Rey's own words echoed back in her mind as she held Luke's lightsaber up, almost prepared to strike at the Emperor.

She had no other choice. If she did not do this, everyone she loved would die. She thought that at least this way…maybe she'd have some say as Empress. Maybe she could do some type of good.

Rey was alone. She was completely alone. Finn and Poe were waging war above her. Leia…Leia was gone. So was Luke and so was anyone else that could've believed in her, that could've helped her.

In that singular, desperately lonely moment, Rey felt a familiar shift in the Force.

When she looked up, she was no longer looking at Palpatine…she was looking at Ben.

She could see he was injured, possibly fighting adversaries at that very moment, but through their bond she felt him open his mind to her.

_You're not alone…_

Rey's eyes widened and she felt something akin to confidence rush through her system.

Ben was here. He was coming. She wouldn't need to fight this alone.

Ben didn't say a single word, but the short, breathless nod he gave her told her all she needed to know.

"Do it! Make the sacrifice!" Palpatine bellowed.

Rey scrunched her eyebrows, drew in a deep breath, and let the saber fall behind her. Her fingers tingled as Ben's hand grasped the lightsaber and removed in from her grasp.

Their bond was broken then, but Rey was confident that he was coming. He would be here, and he would help her. Ben was coming.

She quickly unclipped Leia's lightsaber and moved into an attack position as the Royal Guards moved in to engage her. She fought them off easily and kept her focus on the outskirts, watching for Ben's arrival.

It felt like an impossibly long time that she fought them. Every second she stood there was another second she was alone, another second that she feared Ben had been overpowered.

Finally, as Rey was about to fight him off, the last guard was thrown out of the way, and behind him stood Ben. Not Kylo Ren, just Ben.

He walked up to her quickly, never breaking eye contact. Rey could feel his anxiety and fear of what was to come, but they were both calmed to be in each other's presence.

Truly embodying their role as a dyad, they both turned towards Palpatine, lightsabers at the ready.

"Stand together, die together," Palpatine sneered, thrusting his hands out to pull them in with the Force.

She and Ben were brought to their knees.

"The life force of your bond, unseen for generations…And now the power of two, restores the one…true…Emperor!"

A deep cold flooded over Rey as Palpatine began to drain their life force. Ben groaned beside her. Her energy was being sapped away, and her body was beginning to shut down. She screamed.

Rey didn't know when she ended up on the floor, but she was watching tiredly as Ben tried to rise from the ground to face Palpatine alone. He looked at her briefly, an emotion she couldn't quite place dancing behind his eyes, as he turned to face the Emperor.

"Ben…" She could barely whisper his name before Palpatine had him again. She knew that he was talking…that Palpatine was saying something, but her ears only heard a high pitch ringing.

She watched helplessly as Palpatine threw him across the room and down into the chasm that lay below.

She would've screamed, she would've cried out if she wasn't so tired. Her entire body ached, and she just felt…numb.

She rolled over onto her back and stared up at the carnage above her. Palpatine's lightning was disabling all the ships who'd dared to help the Resistance. They were falling and exploding in all manner of colors.

She should've felt scared, anguished, but all she could think was how beautiful it all was. For a moment, the world around her seemed to move in slow motion. She was at peace.

"Be with me," She whispered, thinking of Leia, Luke, and Han. She needed their help, their strength, if she was going to force herself off the floor.

"Be with me…" She thought of Anakin and Obi-Wan, people she'd never even met but felt a connection, nonetheless. They were hurt more than most by Palpatine and his schemes. She needed their strength.

"Be with me…" She thought of Ben. She could feel he was still alive. She reached out to him through their bond and tried to show him that whatever happened, she would be okay. He wouldn't have to be alone again. She tried to convey that his return, that him coming back for her was giving her the strength she needed to do what came next.

Rey heard their voices.

"These are your final steps, Rey. Rise and take them."

"Bring back the balance, Rey. As I did."

"Find the light, Rey."

"You are not alone, Rey."

"Alone, never have you been."

"Every Jedi who ever lived, lives in you now."

"Feel the Force flowing through you, Rey."

"Let it lift you."

"Rise, Rey."

"We stand behind you, Rey."

"Rise in the Force"

"In the heart of a Jedi lies her strength."

"Rise…rise…rise."

"Rey, the Force will be with you. Always."

They encouraged her…she could feel their strength slowly dripping into her. With each word she and her resolve grew stronger.

She stood and faced the Emperor. Somehow, she'd never felt so strong. She'd never felt so right about doing something in her entire life.

"Let your death be the final word in the story of rebellion," Palpatine said, as he pointed his lightning directly at her.

Rey thrust up Leia's lightsaber and let it protect her from the lightning.

"You are nothing! A scavenger girl who's no match for the power in me. I am all the Sith!" He bellowed, forcing more power into his attack

Rey reached out in the Force, searching for the familiar feeling of Luke's…of Anakin's lightsaber. She tugged at it using her mind and took a deep breath as it flew into her hand.

"And I am all the Jedi."

Rey flung her arm around and made a cross with the two lightsabers. The Skywalker sabers, together in fighting the greatest evil that had ever disturbed their family. Palpatine had caused so much pain for them all. Rey could feel it.

The energy the Jedi had given her was forced out of her body and through the sabers. She could feel their pain.

She felt Anakin's pain at losing his wife, his children, his best friend, his everything. She felt Luke's pain of growing up without and father, finding him and simultaneously losing him. She felt Leia's pain at losing her son to Palpatine, to the dark side. So much pain.

Rey was not a Skywalker. She never had been. But she allowed them to take over her t. This was their battle, and she was only a conduit in which they would achieve what their family so justly deserved. Peace.

Rey couldn't remember Palpatine dying. She just remembered suddenly feeling so tired. So exhausted. She knew it was over…but as the strength left her body for good, she turned back to the chasm, half-lidded eyes searching for Ben. At least he was alive.

She fell to her knees and then to the floor. The last thing that Rey saw was a blurry vision of Ben smiling at her from the pilot's seat of the _Falcon. _

Rey died with her eyes still looking towards the chasm, unseeing.


	2. The Next Right Thing

Rey was no stranger to darkness. She'd seen it her entire life.

All those nights alone on Jakku…cold, tired, and hungry. Nightfall brought hours of nightmares and restless sleep.

She'd felt darkness on Ahch-To, in that cave under the island, where the Force had seemed to mock her. She'd felt darkness when Snoke was in her head, when she thought she'd killed Chewie, when she'd almost become Empress.

But none of that compared to how she felt in this moment, lying on the cold stone floor of Exegol, her head resting where Ben's chest had been just moments ago.

He'd just… disappeared. He was there, kissing her…smiling at her…gone. For a moment they were both happy. There were no choices to be made, nothing to discuss. They just reveled in each other.

Rey was angry more than anything. Angry to the point that her body was frozen in a state of shock and rage. She was numb. But the tears that trickled down her cheeks and onto Ben's tunic betrayed the emptiness that was clawing at her insides. How cruel was fate to bring Ben back to her and take him away just as quickly?

What would she do now? It was over. The First Order was gone. It had been destroyed along with Palpatine's 'Final Order' and the rebellion was won. Leia was gone. Luke was gone. Ben was gone.

What else was there to fight for? Once she thought she'd fight for Ben. Since the moment they touched hands and saw glimpses of each other's futures, she knew that she'd fight for Ben Solo. She would've fought to help him turn back to the light. She'd always seen his light…no matter how deep he tried to bury it.

But Ben was gone…his light was gone. She understood now how easy it must've been to slip into the clutches of the dark side. She was alone…angry…scared. All the things that the Jedi weren't supposed to be.

Ben had found her…he'd _seen_ her when no one else did. Nobody knew her…not really. Except for him. But he was gone…and she was alone…again.

Rey closed her eyes and let her grief overcome her. Her tears soaked into his shirt and her quiet sobs wracked her body to the point of fatigue.

But her tears seized at the warm feeling caressing her cheek. She didn't know how…but she knew it was Ben. Somehow, he was there with her. It gave her strength.

She refused to let his sacrifice be in vain. He'd given his life for hers and she would not waste that sacrifice crying on the floor of a Sith Temple.

With all the strength and resolve she could muster, she picked her head off the floor, drew in a shaky breath, and gently bundled his clothes in her arms. They were all that she had left of him in the physical world, and she would not leave them here.

She sat on her scraped knees and looked to the sky. Was this all just a dream? Ships were falling like shooting stars and their explosions cast frightening shadows along the walls of the temple.

In those brief moments before Rey had collapsed, she'd seen something. She still wasn't sure if it had been a vision from the Force or just a trick of her own mind.

She'd seen Ben.

She'd seen Ben sitting next to her in the pilot's seat of the _Falcon_, smiling at her and laughing at something she'd said. She'd seen him standing by her side…fighting by her side…a dyad in the Force and an unbreakable bond.

She'd seen glimpses of what they could've had together, and the resurfaced memory knocked the wind out of her as she attempted to stand. But she knew she couldn't stay here. Ben wouldn't want her to.

She attempted to stand again shakily and clutched his clothes to her chest.

She took small steps to the exit, still unaccustomed to the weakness in her bones. She remembered how strong she'd felt only minutes ago.

'Just keep going,' she tells herself, wincing slightly with each careful step.

'Just keep going.'

Rey slowly but surely made her way out of the temple and back to Luke's x-wing. She wasn't prepared for her heart to plummet so suddenly at the sight of Ben's TIE right next to her ship. Tears pricked at the corner of her eyes once again, but she refused to stop. She kept going.

She wouldn't think of how Ben came to Exegol in that ship to help her…but he would never get to leave in it.

Rey breathlessly climbed into the X-wing and closed the hatch.

As she flicked the switches on the old ship, she felt the same familiar warmth on her cheek.

"Ben…? Ben, I don't want to leave you here," She whispered, staring back at the temple. She wasn't sure if he was even _there_. She wasn't sure where he was. She looked around for any indication of him, any sign that she was doing the right thing.

She didn't hear a physical voice, like those she'd heard of the old Jedi Masters, but she felt that familiar tug at her mind that always occurred moments before her and Ben were connected, and her mind felt peace.

He wanted her to leave this place.

She did not hesitate.

She would live this life that he'd given her.


End file.
